Chateau Pichon Baron Collectors Series Bordeaux Wine Tasting

"It wasn't always like this. Before Paris, people didn't drink our wine. I mean, my friends did. But you could hardly consider their palates discerning..."

Bo Barrett - Bottle Shock 

We are big fans of Chateau Pichon Baron so when I heard that Pauline Gibert was coming into town I knew that we had a lot of Chateau Pichon Baron collectors out there that would love to bring a bottle out of their cellar to share with our group tonight.

Our collector series tasting event is where we ask you, our wine drinking people, to come up with some wine from your wine collection to add to the party in exchange for your ticket to the event.  That’s correct the collector series tasting means you must bring a bottle of Chateau Pichon Baron from your cellar to attend the event.   The catch is we only need one bottle of each vintage of Chateau Pichon Baron for this event and we already have two vintages spoken for. 

Chateau Pichon Baron Collectors Cellar Tasting
with Special Guest Pauline Gibert
Friday November 8th
7:30pm

Let me explain further- this is a two-part event:

Part One:

The first part of the evening begins at 7:30pm, this is where we will be tasting through a selection of new releases of Bordeaux from the Pichon Baron family of Chateau.  This will be a happy hour style event at the bar.  The wines we will be showing are the ones below.

2019 Chateau Pichon-Longueville 'Les Griffons de Pichon Baron', Pauillac, France
Price: $78.00                   Your Price: $68.64

Les Griffons de Pichon Baron is the Second Wine from Château Pichon Longueville Baron.  This Pauillac “Super Second” powerhouse produces some of the most muscular, energetic, and age worthy wines in its class.  Perhaps this is due to the close proximity to Château Latour, but either way the wines of Château Pichon Longueville Baron are forces to be reckoned with.  The grand vin from this estate demands some time before it expresses its fullest potential.  For those who want to experience these intense, masculine wines without having to wait as long – Les Griffons de Pichon Baron is the perfect wine. 

2020 Chateau Pichon-Longueville 'Les Griffons de Pichon Baron', Pauillac, France
Price: $78.00                   Your Price: $68.64

Les Griffons de Pichon Baron is the Second Wine from Château Pichon Longueville Baron.  This Pauillac “Super Second” powerhouse produces some of the most muscular, energetic, and age worthy wines in its class.  Perhaps this is due to the close proximity to Château Latour, but either way the wines of Château Pichon Longueville Baron are forces to be reckoned with.  The grand vin from this estate demands some time before it expresses its fullest potential.  For those who want to experience these intense, masculine wines without having to wait as long – Les Griffons de Pichon Baron is the perfect wine.

2021 Chateau Pichon-Longueville 'Les Griffons de Pichon Baron', Pauillac, France
Price: $63.00                   Your Price: $55.44

Les Griffons de Pichon Baron is the Second Wine from Château Pichon Longueville Baron.  This Pauillac “Super Second” powerhouse produces some of the most muscular, energetic, and age worthy wines in its class.  Perhaps this is due to the close proximity to Château Latour, but either way the wines of Château Pichon Longueville Baron are forces to be reckoned with.  The grand vin from this estate demands some time before it expresses its fullest potential.  For those who want to experience these intense, masculine wines without having to wait as long – Les Griffons de Pichon Baron is the perfect wine.

2020 Chateau Pibran Pauillac
Price: $60.00     Your Price: $52.80

Through its different vintages, the grand vin of Pibran expresses all the characteristics of this exceptional terroir. Cedar, licorice, blackberry appear on the nose. On the palette, it is a classical Pauillac but softer than its more prestigious neighbours with a high percentage of merlot (over 50%) which is led to reduce. In classical vintages, it can be tasted after five to ten years of aging. In great vintages, it can be laid down for 15 to 20 years.

2008 Chateau Suduiraut Sauternes (375ml)
Price: $57.00                   Your Price: $50.16

The Chateau de Suduiraut 2008 has a beautiful effortless bouquet that blossoms from the glass with scents of lemon curd, white peach, citrus lemon and limestone. It is very precise, armed with a laser-like focus. The palate is viscous and compelling on the entry and it fans out beautifully across the palate with pure botrytized, honeyed fruit. The acidity slices through this Sauternes like a razorblade and the finish is natural and vibrant.

2016 Chateau Suduiraut Sauternes
Price: $114.00                 Your Price: $100.32

(94 Points) Yet another distinctive wine, the 2016 Suduiraut reveals a spicy, intriguing bouquet of licorice, acacia, curry leaf and exotic fruits mingled with ripe orchard fruits. Moderately weighted and perfectly balanced, it’s charming and round, with a rich core of fruit framed by a gastronomic bitterness and a long, penetrating finish.  Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

Part Two:

Dinner with your bottles of Chateau Pichon Baron.

Here are the vintages of Chateau Pichon Baron that we have already:

2015 Chateau Pichon-Longueville au Baron de Pichon-Longueville Pauillac

2016 Chateau Pichon-Longueville au Baron de Pichon-Longueville Pauillac

(I will add the vintages as people respond with the vintage they are bringing)

If you do not have a bottle of Chateau Pichon Baron in your cellar we have a few vintages available here at Wine Watch.

Menu

Selection of cheese and Charcuterie

Portobello Mushroom Carpaccio and Tomato Tartar with herb de Provence aioli and Parmesan Toast

Duck and smoked Mozzarella Ravioli with Sundried Tomato Brown Butter and Reggiano Parm

Beef Short Rib Wellington with Bordeaux Natural Sauce

Canelé Cakes with Caramel Rum Sauce

You must have a bottle of Chateau Pichon Baron to contribute to the dinner to attend this event.  The fee for dinner is $150 + tax, for reservations call 954-523-9463 or e-mail andy@winewatch.com. 

All of the Chateau Pichon Baron available at Wine Watch on SALE!

1982 Chateau Pichon-Longueville au Baron de Pichon-Longueville Pauillac, France Magnum
Price: $1595.00               Sale Price: $1250.00              Quantity in Stock: 3

(94 points) Excellent typicity here and a wine that left a lasting impression from the tasting. A floral nose witz delicate fruit expression - light, summer red berries. Bright and clean on the palate, quite crystalline and pure with a fine tannic structure. I like the acidity and the sheer brightness. Quite a mineral edge that comes across as a touch lean and austere with liquorice, crushed graphite on the end. This is very enjoyable to drink now but doesn't feel like it has a massive amount of life left. Mentholated on the close of play which gives a nice lift and moreish appeal. (GH) Inner quote mark (5/2023)  Decanter

1986 Chateau Pichon-Longueville au Baron de Pichon-Longueville Pauillac, France
Price: $395.00                 Sale Price: $330.00              Quantity in Stock: 39

Winemaker Notes: Long-keeping wine, the 1986 Chateau Pichon Longueville Baron de Pichon Longueville is a powerful and elegant wine which will elegant wine which will delight lovers of fine Bordeaux.

2000 Chateau Pichon Longueville Baron Pauillac
Price: $350.00                 Sale Price: $285.00              Quantity in Stock: 1

(97 points) This is one of the great wines of the vintage, and certainly a candidate for one of the finest wines made at this estate under the management of Christian Seeley and proprietor AXA. Showing incredibly well at two tastings of 2000s, the wine has a dense bluish/purple color and a beautiful nose of incense, melted asphalt, and creme de cassis as well as hints of new saddle leather and licorice. It is superbly concentrated and very pure, with excellent texture and opulence. The acidity seems low, the tannin high but well-integrated. This is a compelling 2000 that is just closing in on its window of maturity and should stay there for at least 20 or more years. Bravo! Wine Advocate #189 Jun 2010

2003 Chateau Pichon-Longueville au Baron de Pichon-Longueville Pauillac (6 Liter)
Price: $1975.00               Your Price: $1738.00              Quantity in Stock: 1

(95 Points) "This wine shows so much ripe fruit and berry character with just the right hint of lead pencil and spice. Full-bodied and very chewy. Big and powerful. Beautiful wine. Superb. Best after 2012. 14,000 cases made." Wine Spectator

2011 Chateau Pichon-Longueville au Baron de Pichon-Longueville Pauillac, France Magnum
Price: $600.00                 Your Price: $528.00

(91 Points) Its bigger, more famous sibling, the 2011 Pichon Longueville Baron exhibits a dense ruby/purple color, an opulent mouthfeel for a 2011, silky tannins and no hard edges. Medium-bodied and well-endowed, it is a major success in this vintage. It should hit its stride in 3-4 years and last for 15+. Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

2014 Chateau Pichon-Longueville au Baron de Pichon-Longueville Pauillac, France Magnum
Price: $643.50                 Your Price: $566.28

2014 Chateau Pichon-Longueville au Baron de Pichon-Longueville Pauillac, France
Price: $234.00                 Your Price: $205.92              Quantity in Stock: 1

(94 Points) The 2014 Pichon-Longueville Baron was broody at first, as if a big "No Entry" sign had been placed in front of the aromatics. But peeking underneath are some wonderful blackberry, cedar and graphite aromas that just sing of Pauillac and exude typicity. The palate is medium-bodied with very impressive depth and concentration on the entry, a superb line of acidity and outstanding precision on the finish. This is clearly fulfilling its potential that it showed from barrel. The only drawback is that it might be unfairly overshadowed by the 2015 Pichon Baron! This will be one of those over-performing Pauillacs, perhaps like the 1990 Pichon Baron, that will delight for years to come.- Interim End of March 2017, The Wine Advocate

2015 Chateau Pichon-Longueville au Baron de Pichon-Longueville Pauillac, France
Price: $322.50                 Your Price: $283.80

Winemakers notes: Our Grand Vin Château Pichon Baron 2nd Cru Classé in 1855 comes from the very oldest vines grown on the historic plots of the estate. This authentic Pauillac offers an amazing sensory experience with its black fruit flavours and spicy hints. Château Pichon Baron shows great elegance, intensity and exceptional length on the palate. It is a wine that improves year after year and can age for over 40 years in the cellar.

2016 Chateau Pichon-Longueville au Baron de Pichon-Longueville Pauillac, France
Price: $337.50                 Your Price: $297.00

(100 Points) Pichon Baron 2016 is a riveting, classy wine, richly aromatic and expressive from the start with a complex bouquet of black cherry, liquorice, graphite, menthol and subtle spices. The palate combines fleshy texture and linearity. The fine-grained tannins have the laser-like precision that Christian Seely likes so much, and contribute to the overall impression of crystalline purity so conducive to the terroir expression of this benchmark wine destined to reach new heights over the next 20 to 30 years. Magnificent wine.  Decanter

2019 Chateau Pichon-Longueville au Baron de Pichon-Longueville Pauillac, France
Price: $262.50                 Your Price: $231.00

(100 Points) The bouquet enchants by its expression of pure, crunchy fruit and florality without a trace of oakiness despite barrel-aging with 80% new wood. Some touches of graphite and subtle spices come into the aromatic mix. On a par with the great 2016, this stunning wine has a palate that combines fleshy, velvety texture and linearity as well as remarkable length, and provides convincing testimony of the progress achieved by the estate’s technical team.  Decanter

2021 CHATEAU PICHON LONGUEVILLE AU BARON PAUILLAC
Price: $238.50                 Your Price: $209.88

(96 Points) The 2021 Pichon-Longueville Baron is showing very well in bottle, unwinding in the glass with notes of cassis, sweet berries and violets mingled with subtle hints of orange zest and cigar wrapper. Medium to full-bodied, fleshy and layered, with good depth at the core, bright acids and sweet tannins that assert themselves on the gently structured finish, its serious, slightly reserved profile reflects the unusually high (89%) percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon. The 2021 concluded its élevage in large wooden vats for a month and a half, saw a touch less racking than normal, and was only fined with a small amount of gelatin, not egg white, as has been the rule at this address for several years now.  Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

About Château Pichon Baron from : www.thewinedoctor.com
« The seeds of the creation of the Pichon domaine, which split to form the two Pichon estates we know today, may be found in the late 17th century, when Jacques de Pichon-Longueville married Thérèse de Rauzan, daughter of Pierre des Mesures de Rauzan. Both Jacques and Thérèse were descended from influential and powerful stock; Jacques was the son of Bernard de Pichon-Longueville, himself the son of François de Pichon and Catherine de Bavolier. It was Jacques' father Bernard who had been ennobled with the Barony of Longueville when he married Anne Daffis de Longueville in 1646. And of Bernard's two children, the aforementioned Jacques and his brother François, the latter also took on through marriage the Barony of Parempuyre.

As for Thérèse, her family's authority stemmed from their extensive vineyard landholdings. They were not newcomers to viticulture, and even then - as is still the case today through the names Rauzan-Ségla and Rauzan-Gassies - they were best associated with the vineyards of Margaux. Nevertheless, in 1689 her father had purchased several plots of vines further north in Pauillac, land which ultimately formed part of a dowry for Thérèse. Whereas Jacques brought his title and status to their union, Thérèse brought vines, and it was this dowry that was to be the foundation of the original Pichon vineyard. In later years these vineyards were augmented by the exchange of plots of vines with neighbouring Latour, and the wines produced on the estate quickly developed an excellent reputation, second only - at least within the boundaries of the commune - to its more illustrious neighbour. Nevertheless, it was the Rauzan vines that remained the core of the estate.

Jacques de Pichon-Longueville died in 1731 and the property was inherited by his son, also named Jacques, and subsequently it passed through two more generations of the Pichon family, Jean-Pierre and then Joseph. Born in 1755, it was Joseph who held tenure during the French Revolution, which saw him incarcerated for a short period of time. He was also the last member of the Pichon family who held sway over all the vines, as upon his death the estate was divided between his children, creating the Pichon faux jumeaux that we know today. Of the five offspring, only one son remained; this was Raoul, who assumed the title of Baron, and would seem to be the heir apparent. Under new Napoleonic laws, however, the estate could not pass intact to a sole recipient, but must be divided between all possible heirs. And so two shares (amounting to 28 hectares of vines), one for Raoul and one for his late brother Louis, both came to Raoul, and thus the Pichon-Baron die was cast. The remaining three shares passed to the daughters, these vineyards forming the nexus of Château Pichon-Lalande.

Raoul de Pichon-Longueville had the old manor house demolished and a fine château (above) built in its place in 1851. Under his tenure the Pichon-Baron estate (and also Pichon-Lalande, for the two portions were run as a single business for several years after their supposed separation) was deemed to be of second growth quality in the 1855 classification. It seems that it was only upon his death in 1860 that the division was final, with one of the sisters taking the helm single-handed at Lalande, whilst Pichon-Baron passed to Raoul's cousin, another Raoul. By 1933, however, the family had run out of potential heirs, and the last surviving member sold the estate to the Bouteillier family. Under their management Pichon-Baron continued to enjoy a good reputation, the estate already having survived the succession of devastation that was mildew, Phylloxera, war and depression during the early 20th century. But the death of Jean Bouteillier in 1961 marked a decline in the Baron's fortunes. Jean's children were young and inexperienced, and there was a deficit of leadership and investment.

Through the 1970s and 1980s it was clear that the wines made at Château Pichon-Baron lacked the quality that is expected of a second growth. Fermentation temperatures were uncontrolled, macerations was excessively lengthy, and the wine was bottled in the courtyard with no control over the environment. This was the state of affairs when Jean-Michel Cazes (he of Lynch-Bages, and other properties such as Les Ormes de Pez) and AXA Millésimes became involved, with the purchase of the property completing in 1987. AXA Millésimes (an esoteric "viticultural investment" string in the bow of the insurance company AXA, with an impressive portfolio, including Suduiraut, Petit Village and Pibran) had huge capability for investment and it was no surprise that there were many changes at Pichon-Baron. The chai wasn't just renovated, it was completely rebuilt, using a design by architects Patrick Dillon and Jean de Gastines, after the pair won a competition for the best design. The new buildings (shown above and below) face each other across the pool in front of the château, and yet they do not detract from the grand château as, in a triumph of sensitivity in architecture, they are sunk into the ground. The cellars themselves extend beneath the pool in front of the château, the cool waters above helping to moderate the temperatures below. The château itself, always under-utilised, was renovated, although sadly it remains unoccupied. The result of this investment was a heady rise in quality, and under Jean-Michel Cazes and winemaker Daniel Llose the wines of Pichon-Baron soon began to challenge - and not infrequently usurp - those of Pichon Lalande. Previously, in my opinion, there had simply been no competition.

The vineyards at Pichon-Baron cover 73 hectares of typical gravel (on an estate which totals 88 hectares), and are planted with 65% Cabernet Sauvignon and 35% Merlot; this ratio reflects a recent increase in the area dedicated to Merlot and a slight reduction in Cabernet Sauvignon, but also the disappearance of Cabernet Franc, which once accounted for 5% of the vineyard. Harvesting is manual, and the fruit destemmed before fermentation in temperature-controlled stainless-steel tanks at 28°C to 30°C. The malolactic fermentation occurs in vat, after which the wine is transferred into French oak barrels (some may undergo the malolactic here instead) for up to 18 months, using 80% new and 20% one-year old (the use of new oak has increased a little in recent years), with racking every three months.

The grand vin is Château Longueville au Baron de Pichon-Longueville, Pichon-Baron to you and me, with a typical production of 24000 cases. The second wine is Les Tourelles de Longueville, introduced with the 1986 vintage, of which 12000 cases are typically produced. Les Tourelles might be regarded a groundbreaking wine by some; in early 2007 it was revealed that a proportion of the second wine, those bottles intended for the on trade (restaurants and the like, not retail sales) would be bottled under a screwcap closure, rather than the traditional cork. For a deuxième cru, even if it is only the second wine, this was a bold and admirable move indeed. On my most recent visit to the château, however, the response to my question about how much Les Tourelles was committed to screwcap was "very little". Cork is still by far the dominant closure here, and what small amount goes under screwcap is destined for the UK market. I would not be surprised if this innovation, which I featured in my report on tasted 2004 Les Tourelles from under both closures, soon comes to an end. »  Text taken from www.thewinedoctor.com